om the recognized official organ
of the Bolshevik government:

Two village robbers were condemned to death. All the people of Semenovskaia
and the surrounding communes were invited to the ceremony. On July 6th, at
midday, a great crowd of interested spectators arrived at the village of
Loupia. The organizers of the execution gave to each of the bystanders the
opportunity of flogging the condemned to obtain from them supplementary
confessions. The number of blows was unlimited. Then a vote of the
spectators was taken as to the method of execution. The majority was for
hanging. In order that the spectacle could be easily seen, the spectators
were ranged in three ranks--the first row sat down, the second rested on
the knee, and the third stood up.[43]

The Bolshevik government created an All-Russian Extraordinary Commission,
which in turn created Provincial and District Extraordinary Commissions.
These bodies--the local not less than the national--were empowered to make
arrests and even decree and carry out capital sentences. There was no
appeal from their decisions; they were simply required to _report
afterward_! Only members of the Bolshevik party were immune from this
terror. Alminsky, a Bolshevist writer of note, felt called upon to protest
against this hideous travesty of democratic justice, and wrote in
_Pravda_:

The absence of the necessary restraint makes one feel appalled at the
"instruction" issued by the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to "All
Provincial Extraordinary Commissions," which says: "The All-Russian
Extraordinary Commission is perfectly independent in its work, carrying out
house searches, arrests, executions, of which it _afterward_ reports to the
Council of the People's Commissaries and to the Central Executive Council."
Further, the Provincial and District Extraordinary Commissions "are
independent in their activities, and when called upon by the local
Executive Council present a report of their work." In so far as house
searches and arrests are concerned, a report made _afterward_ may result in
putting right irregularities committed owing to lack of restraint. The same
cannot be said of executions.... It can also be seen from the "instruction"
that personal safety is to a certain extent guaranteed only to members of
the government, of the Central Council, and of the local Executive
Committees. With the exception of these few persons all members of the
local committees of the [Bolshevik] P